New Testament Greek Online

Lesson 9

Winfred P. Lehmann and Jonathan Slocum

The Book of Acts continues St. Luke's account of the days after the resurrection. The second chapter
reports the events of the fiftieth day after the festival of the Passover, that is to say, fulfillment
of the promise of Jesus in St. John 14:16-27 and 16,7, that he would send the Comforter to his disciples
after his death. The importance of the events is commemorated ever since on Pentecost, one of the great
holy days of the church. Among remarkable details is the presence of a great spread of nationalities at
the event. Those who believed illustrate how the church began its wide expansion. This was further
strengthened by the activities reported in the remainder of the book, especially the missionary journeys
of St. Paul.

Translation

From the King James version:2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
6 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
7 And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?
8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,
10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
12 And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?

13 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.

Mark 3:35 (memory verse) --
For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.

Grammar

41. Verbs in -μι; the present and imperfect active system.

A small number of frequent verbs have different endings and formations from those of the general
verbs. Among these are τίθημι 'put', ἵημι 'send', ἵστημι, and δίδωμι 'give'. The
present forms of τίθημι are given here to illustrate their forms. The forms of the others are
comparable, though δίδωμι has ο-vowels corresponding to the ε-vowels of the three other verbs.

Present

Imperfect

1 sg

τίθημι

ἐτίθην

2 sg

τίθης

ἐτίθεις

3 sg

τίθησι(ν)

ἐτίθει

1 pl

τίθεμεν

ἐτίθεμεν

2 pl

τίθετε

ἐτίθετε

3 pl

τιθέασι(ν)

ἐτίθεσαν

Subjunctive

Optative

Imperative

1 sg

τιθῶ

τιθείην

2 sg

τιθῇς

τιθείης

τίθει

3 sg

τιθῇ

τιθείη

τιθέτω

1 pl

τιθῶμεν

τιθεῖμεν

2 pl

τιθῆτε

τιθεῖτε

τίθετε

3 pl

τιθῶσι(ν)

τιθεῖεν

τιθέντων

42. Forms of the aorist active.

Indicative

Subjunctive

Optative

Imperative

1 sg

ἔθηκα

θῶ

θείην

2 sg

ἔθηκας

θῇς

θείης

θές

3 sg

ἔθηκε(ν)

θῇ

θείη

θέτω

1 pl

ἔθεμεν

θῶμεν

θεῖμεν

2 pl

ἔθετε

θῆτε

θεῖητε

θέτε

3 pl

ἔθεσαν

θῶσι(ν)

θεῖεν

θέντων

43. Forms of the Present and Imperfect system of εἰμί 'am'.

Present

Imperfect

1 sg

εἰμί

ἦν

2 sg

εἶ

ἦσθα

3 sg

ἐστί(ν)

ἦν

1 pl

ἐσμέν

ἦμεν

2 pl

ἐστέ

ἦτε

3 pl

εἰσί(ν)

ἦσαν

Subjunctive

Optative

Imperative

1 sg

ὦ

εἴην

2 sg

ᾖς

εἴης

ἴσθι

3 sg

ᾖ

εἴη

ἔστω

1 pl

ὦμεν

εἴημεν

2 pl

ἤτε

εἴητε

ἔστε

3 pl

ὦσι(ν)

εἴησαν

ἔστων

44. Forms of οἶδα 'I know'.

οἶδα is a perfect with present meaning. It is based on a root meaning 'see', so that the perfect
has developed in meaning from 'I have seen' to 'I know'. The forms representing present and past time
are given here.

Present

Past

1 sg

οἶδα 'I know'

ᾔδη 'I knew'

2 sg

οἶσθα 'thou knowest'

ᾔδησθα 'thou knewest'

3 sg

οἶδε(ν) 'he/she knows'

ᾔδει 'he/she knew'

1 pl

ἴσμεν 'we know'

ᾔδμεν 'we knew'

2 pl

ἴστε 'you know'

ᾔδετε 'you knew'

3 pl

ἴσασι(ν) 'they know'

ᾔδεσαν 'they knew'

45. Particles.

As you have noted in the texts, particles are numerous in Greek texts. Moreover, they are often left
untranslated. They may modify meaning much as intonation does in English; if then translated with their
meaning given in dictionaries, such as 'indeed, to be sure' and so on, the English sentence is turgid.
In combinations, such as καὶ δέ, καὶ merely adds emphasis. Particles then must be treated in
relation to one another and to the entire sentence.

There are two negative particles, also called adverbs, οὺ (οὔτε, οὐκ, etc.), and μή,
which is required in sentences expressing a desire and is used in conditions.

There are several interrogative particles, of which ἧ and ἆρα are the most frequent.
Other particles are listed here in alphabetical order.

ἀλλά 'on the other hand, but, on the contrary'ἅμα 'at the same time, at once'ἄρα 'therefore, then' (note the different accentuation from the interrogative particle)γάρ 'for'γέ 'indeed, certainly'δέ 'but, however' (often used as a connective, and need not be translated)δή 'already, now' (or used to add emphasis)ἦ 'truly, really'ἤ 'or' (often doubled with the meanings 'either ...or')καί 'and' or, as used for emphasis, 'even'μέν 'indeed' (may be used with δέ to indicate a correlation, and not translated)οὐδέ 'and not'οὖν 'indeed, certainly; therefore'οὔτε ... οὔτε, μήτε ... μήτε 'neither ... nor'πέρ 'even, indeed'τέ 'and'; τέ ... τέ 'both ... and'; τέ ... καί 'not only ... but also'